[WATCH] ‘Adele Live in New York City’ director Beth McCarthy-Miller: ‘I have become the Susan Lucci of the Primetime Emmys’

“I have now become, I think, the Susan Lucci of the Primetime Emmys,” jokes director Beth McCarthy-Miller as we chat via webcam (watch above) about her reaping a tenth Emmy nomination for helming “Adele Live in New York City.” This veteran of both live and scripted television has yet to win.“There’s so much good stuff out there,” she adds, “that to be recognized amongst the sea of things that are out there is an absolute thrill.”

She has been nominated four times for her work on “Saturday Night Live,” and three for “30 Rock” with additional bids for “America: A Tribute to Heroes” and “The Sound of Music Live!” Her other credits also include Emmy contenders “Modern Family,” “Blackish,” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”

McCarthy-Miller offered us an inside look into the challenges of mounting a live concert event. “My whole philosophy for directing music in general,” she reveals, “is that people can’t be there live, so I’m trying to give them the best seat in the house,” as well as, “be able to give them enough breath of the space so they feel what it feels like to be in the space.”

During the live taping, she explains, “you need to be able to react, but you also need to be able to act. You need to be able to know what’s going to happen next.” She adds, “you have to feel the music, and you have to feel what the performer is going through at the time the performer is going through it, and I think that’s instinctual.”

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